FORT WORTH, Texas — Kevin Harvick was the class of the field in Stage 1 of Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, but in the closing laps Harvick had to work his way around his teammate Clint Bowyer for the lead. Harvick did just that and took his sixth Stage win of 2019.
Bowyer ended the Stage in second, while Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman and Kyle Busch rounded out the top-five finishers in Stage 1.
Austin Dillon, who will have a new crew chief in 2020, finished the Stage in sixth.
Kurt Busch announced a multi-year contract extension with Chip Ganassi Racing this week, and ended Stage 1 in seventh.
Ryan Preece, who is locked in a tight battle for the rookie of the year award with Daniel Hemric finished eighth.
Ryan Blaney was ninth, and Hemric scored a Stage point as well in 10th.
Martin Truex Jr., who locked his place into the Championship 4 last week at Martinsville, was 16th.
Joey Logano (23rd), Denny Hamlin (33rd) and Chase Elliott (37th) were three other championship contenders who finished outside the top-10 in Stage 1. All three found trouble, but Logano and Hamlin are still on the lead lap.
Elliott is 15 laps off the pace after slamming the wall on lap 10.
